"BREATHE" art project: A journey to the origins of the air we breathe
Where does the air we breathe come from? With his installation "BREATHE" at the ETH main building, artist Khalil Berro questions the shared resource of air. His work is based on calculations from the Atmospheric Dynamics Group at ETH Zurich.
When we breathe, we rarely think about the origin of the air – unless events such as volcanic eruptions make it necessary. In his installation "BREATHE", however, artist Khalil Berro does address precisely this question. The installation is based on real-time calculations by Hanna Joos, Michael Sprenger and Heini Wernli from the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science at ETH Zurich. The results of these calculations, delineating the air’s journey, complete with city names and timestamps are projected onto the façade of the ETH main building. The scrolling text is reminiscent of stock-exchange tickers that run over the skyscrapers of Wall Street. Air, clouds and water symbolically become commodities in a world determined by the capital market.
When and where
The installation "BREATHE" runs from 26 September until 2 November 2024. It will be projected onto the ETH main building above the Polyterrasse, with viewing hours from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. in the morning and from 6 p.m. to midnight each evening.
Location and directions to the ETH Campus Centre.
Links
- Webseite of Khalil Berro: external page https://khalilberro.com/
- Scientific Background of BREATHE: external page https://khalilberro.com/breathe-research
- Research of the Atmospheric Dynamics group at ETH Zurich
- D-USYS landing page (in German) https://usys.ethz.ch/forschung/breathe-art.html
- D-USYS landing page (in English) https://usys.ethz.ch/en/research/breathe-art.html